Page 9 of Poinsettia Lane

Options for next steps

Don’t do anything to upset the balance, let it play out as it will.

Reach out to her and follow up on the tentative plans to get together again.

Check in on her at the hotel / assess her in another environment, then decide.

Thoughts about Asim:

He is a delivery driver for the plant shop.

He is kind and charming.

He’s the sexiest man I’ve ever seen.

I have no idea how to contact him, other than ordering more plants, which I don’t need…

Find someone else?

With her brain more organized, even if she doesn’t feel happier about the situation, she does have a clearer picture. Everly decides she can’t do anything about Asim, so she will leave that up to fate or the universe (or maybe Frankie) to decide for her. As far as Addison goes, well, she’s staying at the Sioria on the floor below Everly’s office. It would take only a couple of minutes to walk down there and see how she reacts.

Everly decides to give it a day. She doesn’t want to be too much too fast, and instead texts Addison a simple thank you for her help cleaning up after the party over the weekend, deciding to leave it at that for now. Spinning her chair around to her computer, she hopes she can actually focus on her work this time.

~~~

The next day, her first order of business is to follow up on her lists. Addison had sent a polite text back the day before, and Everly thinks an in-person visit is a good next step. As an early riser, Everly always gets to work before the morning shift starts, so she waits until a respectable hour to ensure she doesn’t wake her sister up too early. As the clock hands tick forward, Everly loses patience and figures nine am sounds good enough; giving herself a firm nod to solidify this decision, she stands up, sets her shoulders back, and murmurs a quick “I can do this. I am capable.” affirmation reminder.

Three minutes later, she’s taking a deep breath and knocking on the hotel room door, shifting from foot to foot while questioning every decision she has ever made in her life. She hears a muffled “Ev?” through the door before the sound of the locks, and then the door swings open.

Addison does not look like nine am is a respectable hour. Her curly brown hair is a lion's mane around her face, and one cheek is lined and puffy from sleeping on it.

“Is everything okay? What are you doing here?” Addison asks, one hand rubbing the sleep from her eye.

“Oh, yeah everything’s fine, great really. I just wanted to see how you were doing and ask if maybe you wanted to get coffee or something, but I can see you’re not really up yet.” Everly chuckles awkwardly, then clamps her mouth shut and bites her tongue before she really starts to ramble. They stand there in the doorway for a moment with the door cracked open and dead silence between them.

“Right. Coffee. I don’t drink coffee, but if you want to come in for a bit there’s complimentary tea. Which you know, obviously.” Addison doesn’t seem to be much better at this socializing thing than Everly is when they don’t have the party connecting them.

“Sure, I can come in for a few minutes. I don’t drink coffee either, actually,” Everly confesses. “I just figured that’s what people do so it made sense to ask.”

Addison just nods, opening the door wider for Everlyand waving one arm around as she walks back into the kitchen area of the suite. She has one of the nicer ones, with an open kitchen and breakfast nook, spacious sitting area, bedroom and connected bath. They do their best at small talk while the water heats to a boil, commenting on the weather this time of year, how it’s just as Addison remembers it being, then take their tea to the balcony to enjoy said crisp morning weather.

Everly wants to ask so many questions, but isn’t sure where to start, or if she even should. She confirms how long Addison is staying (until New Year’s Day), if she has other plans (nothing set in stone), and Addison again asks about the hotel and comments on how stunning the updates and new designs are. After a moment of finger-tapping silence in which they both take too-hot sips of tea, Addison clears her throat, drawing Everly’s attention again.

“Are you still friends with Frankie?” Addison asks.

“Oh, yeah, they’re doing great. Running the coffee shop these days,” Everly replies.

“Oh no way!” Addison’s eyes light up and she looks fully awake for the first time this morning. “Did they buy it?”

Everly hums in confirmation, a proud smile curving her lips.

Addison sits back with a smile. “Good for them, that’s really cool. I’ll have to stop by before I leave.”

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